Tag: FKF

Peace will finally prevail in the Kenya football scene. A three man delegation has been sent by FIFA to resolve the standoff that has lasted four months. : Ghana FA President Kwesi Nyantakyi who also sits in FIFA’s Associations Committee, Ashford Mamelodi ,Fifa’s development officer of Southern and Eastern region and Italian Primio Carvalao, who is head of Fifa Football Associations. The FIFA delegation has finally gotten the two warring sides to come to an agreement.

Under the agreement, the KPL will continue as currently constituted with 16 teams in 2015 and will be considered the top tier league. KPL will also be allowed to fulfill its contractual obligations with sponsors. The league shall however be renamed the FKF Premier League to emphasize the fact that it is still run under the auspices of FKF.

FKF shall also continue to run their league now renamed the National Super League.

In June the two warring sides will sign an MoU under which the league shall transition into an 18 team format. Under the current plan, four teams will be relegated and 6 teams promoted.

Azam TV deal

FKF chair Sam Nyamweya had taken his opponents by surprise when he announced a lucrative deal Tanzanian TV giant Azam. The deal worth Ksh 207 million over three years is to see each club paid Ksh 1 million per month for 10 months. It gave Nyamweya a strong bargaining chip and put him in prime position to be re-elected in October since he now controls the purse strings of many clubs.

Nyamweya now says the two leagues will be harmonized in 2016.

The entry of Azam into the Kenyan market is a good thing as it forces Supersport to pull up their socks by offering better deals to club, by making matches accesible to more fans via free to air TV and by enhancing mobile and online services, all of which Azam currently does much better than Supersport. And unlike Supersport, the terms of Azam TV deals are not shrouded in secrecy. Nobody quite knows what the current deal between KPL and Supersport is. It has supposedly been leaked to the media but the sources are unverified.

Return to normalcy

With peace now prevailing at least for another year, clubs are now free to focus on their respective league campaigns. Chairman Ambrose Rachier can now return to running the club instead of shuttling back and forth from his office to Milimani law courts to address Nyamweya’s latest salvo. he can now resume the task of shoring up the club’s finances and resume the search for a sponsor.

The return of normalcy and certainty should also see a return by many fans who had abandoned the league and perhaps even draw sponsors to the league and individual clubs.

The biggest losers in this arrangement are probably Posta Rangers who had rightfully earned a place in the top tier league but are now stuck in the second tier. As for Nakuru All Stars, this standoff has benefited them as they were due to be relegated. But going by their current performance, they never learned from last year’s debacle.

The High Court has extended orders stopping the Kenyan Premier League Limited from organising league matches till next week.

The ruling was supposed to be made on Tuesday. It was then postponed to Thursday whereupon FKF and KPL were ordered to sit down and negotiate.

Some Gor Mahia fans were at Milimani courts including Jaro Soja

Lady Justice Roselyn Aburili on Thursday said that the orders granted by Justice Mbogholi Msagha on February 20, will remain in force until March 13 when a ruling will be made on whether certain KPL officials are in contempt of the said court order. This according to the Daily Nation.

The orders had been granted in an application filed by FKF who alleged that KPL, Kenya Football Referees Association (KFRA) and Sports Kenya, had approved a parallel premier league.

“The World Governing Body Fifa has warned that if Kenya runs a parallel league, the country shall be banned from participating in regional, continental and international football,” FKF had said in their court papers.

Perhaps the court is not aware that KPL was sanctioned to run the league in 2003 and again in 2006 because the league being run by KFF was too shambolic, prone to corruption and had too many boardroom decisions.

Seven KPL games were however played on the first week of the competition. Two FKF league matches were also played.

FKF, through its lawyer Eric Mutua, urged the judge to protect the dignity of the court by having the officials committed to civil jail for six months. He said they had served the order but it was adamantly ignored.

“This court should be firm on any person who disregards orders,” pleaded Mr Mutua.

KPL officials, through lawyers Geoffrey Obura and Ben Akech, told the court they were never served with the court order.

Mr Obura added that the said order was also ambiguous since it stopped KPL from organising parallel league matches yet it has been the body responsible for organising league matches since 2003.

“KPL has been organising league matches since 2003, a fact which has also been recognized by FKF. It is therefore unclear which league matches are parallel according to this court order,” explained Mr Obura.

The continued stalemate leaves KPL teams in a difficult spot since most of their revenue comes from gate collections, TV revenue from Supersport and the league sponsorship from Tusker, none of which will be forthcoming.

SUSPENDED FROM FOOTBALL

Meanwhile, former FKF officials Sammy Shollei and Dan Shikanda will on Friday know whether they will be enjoined in the case after the court makes a ruling on the matter.

The duo had been suspended for six years by FKF for taking an issue to court in contravention of FIFA statutes. It is ironic however that the very same FKF that suspended them has now taken KPL to court.

Gor Mahia take on Ulinzi Stars

Gor Mahia will play Ulinzi Stars on Saturday March 7 and the City Stadium. The friendly against the military side will be used to prepare for the Africa champions league tie against AC Leopards of Congo. Ulinzi coach Robert Matano will use the match to test the young players he recruited during the transfer window.

“The friendly will be important to us. We have just trained a few days after returning from Madagascar and given there will be no league match, I think we need a friendly with a top KPL team to prepare for the next match,” said coach Nuttall to supersport.com

According to information posted on the club site, the tickets are Ksh.500 for VIP tickets and Ks.200 for terraces. The match will kick off at 1500 hrs.

The Kenya Premier League has suspended its activities after a court order that barred the league from proceeding was finally received by the KPL. Football Kenya Federation had on Friday evening secured an injunction from the High Court barring KPL from conducting any matches, but the league body went ahead with seven fixtures because it had not been served.

“We were served early in the morning and we are currently preparing documentation to challenge the court order. As it stands now, we cannot hold any league matches until the case is heard so we are hoping that that it happens as soon as possible,” KPL CEO Jack Oguda said to the Daily Nation.

The order states: “It is hereby ordered that the Defendants/Respondents be and are hereby restrained by way of injunction from hosting, commencing, starting, running, managing or in any other way conducting a parallel premier league in Kenya in the name of the Kenyan Premier League or in any other name for 14 days from today 20th February, 2015.”

The Defendants are Kenyan Premier League Limited, Kenya Referees Association and the Sports Kenya. Oguda indicated that KPL plans to challenge the order in those same courts.

“We cannot go against the law. I think we have a legitimate case against our challengers which we shall argue out on those same courts,” Oguda said.

Players up in arms

A number of players both overseas and at home are speaking out against what they perceive as selfishness and incompetence on the part of the parties involved in the current tug of war.

Last week, Harambee Stars captain Victor Wanyama urged the feuding parties to find common ground for the sake of the game.
“For the sake of our beloved game, FKF & KPL is time to think about the future generation, players and their family who depend on football to earn a living. Let us unite and speak as one and raise the Kenyan flag into the next level,” the Southampton midfielder posted on his Twitter handle.
Former captain Dennis Oliech also weighed in.

“Enough is enough, we will not see football being destroyed in Kenya and the dreams of the youth extinguished. Let’s all stand up for justice in football,” Oliech posted on his wall.

And Monday, Stars and Lillestrom goalkeeper Arnold Origi launched a scathing attack on FKL and KPL.

In a hard-hitting post, Origi termed the two bodies “selfish”, while challenging his fellow footballers to stand up and fight for their rights.

Local players led by Bandari goalkeeper accused stakeholders of putting their livelihood in peril. They vowed to lead fans in a demo to get the current officials banned from football if the issue is not resolved.

Nyamweya formally introduces FKF Kenya Premier league

FKF chairman Sam Nyamweya claims that he has received a petition from owners of Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards demanding that both teams be included in the FKF premier league. Both sides were included in the list of teams that will participate.

Nyamweya announced that each team will receive Ksh 1 million to begin with and receive a further Ksh 1 million each month. He announced that the league will be run by a governing council of the clubs. According to him, FKF will have nothing to do with the league. Though he contradicted himself by saying FKF will have a veto vote.

He announced that a sponsor has been found and will be unveiled soon.

Nyamweya announced that there will be a new broadcaster announced soon. The broadcaster will have live streaming, pay TV, free to air TV, radio broadcasting, inflight services and a host of components yet to be seen in this republic according to Nyamweya. who stated that he wants Kenyans to watch matches free of charge.

All this is very enticing to the public. But football fans will be forgiven for not believing Nyamweya.

It must be asked that if Nyamweya has a sponsor and a broadcast partner ready then why has he not unveiled them? Does he want clubs to commit to a league only to find out 3 months from now that there is no sponsor nor broadcast partner?

Nyamweya announced that he has been petitioned by the real owners of Gor Mahia and AFC not to lock the two clubs out. He stated “Gor Mahia is not owned by one person” in apparent reference to chairmen Ambrose Rachier and Allan Kasavuli.

FKF has banned the referees who officiated the match between Gor Mahia and Sofapaka and also fined both teams Ksh 200,000.

According to story posted on goal.com, an FKF official announced the sanctions.

“Gor Mahia and Sofapaka are our members and by participating in a cup that was not sanctioned by federation was disobeying our statutes. As FKF, we did not sanction the match and thus both teams must pay the fine of Sh200, 000 and face further disciplinary action if they continue to violate our rules and regulations.

“The same will apply to referees, who officiated in the match. By officiating in the match, they disobeyed our orders and thus will serve a ban of three months and this could increase after our disciplinary sits to discuss the same.

“We will continue to take disciplinary action against clubs that are not following our statutes. All clubs in previous Kenyan Premier League are our members and should follow orders from Football Kenya Federation.”

This is a sign of things to come because it basically means FKF will seek to end the KPL league by banning any referee who officiates in the KPL league and fining teams that participate.

A similar farciacal scenario played out approximately 10 years ago when there were parallel leagues. On that occassion, the government banned KFF from using its stadia while KFF retaliated by banning referees who officiated in the breakaway league. The difference is that this time, all teams are unified in support of KPL.

Sepp Blatter aiding in Nyamweya’s corruption

Nyamweya’s ability to run roughshod over Kenya football is aided by none other than FIFA president Sep Blatter. It is he who has now allowed FKF to disregard the recomendation of the FIFA advisory panel that recommended that the league remain a 16 team league run by KPL. He does this despite full knowledge that Nyamweya has been siphoning FIFA money into his own bank accounts.

The decision to terminate his contract was reached during Thursday’s Executive Committee meeting. “He is accused of unlawfully representing the interests of the club to the federation as pertains to the clubs position in the ongoing FKF – KPL stand-off whereas the club is in support of the KPL,” read the statement printed in the Standard.

Aduda now says that he quit and was not fired and has taken the decision after the management decided to go against the Football Kenya Federation directive by announcing that they will participate in the Kenyan Premier League.

“I advised the club not to go against FKF’s decisions but I am not ready to hold onto a position whereas my advice is not being considered by the club.”

He denied that he has been working with the Football Kenya Federation to undermine the club’s management insisting that he will stand by the FIFA statutes. He further said that Gor Mahia may suffer the consequences of going against FKF

“I am not ready to be antagonized by the repercussions of the decision that the club (Gor Mahia) has taken to go against the federation” he continued.

Misguided

Aduda is clearly misguided on this issue. To begin with, all 16 teams in the KPL have decided to stay within KPL. Does Aduda want Gor Mahia to play in a FKF league by itself?

He speaks of FIFA statutues yet it is FIFA itself that has mandated that the league be run by KPL and that the league must remain 16 teams. And from a financial perspective, there is no evidence that Nyamweya will compensate clubs for the loss of Supersport money so what should each club do. He may be correct however that Gor Mahia as a club should not take an antagonistic stance against FKF.

Accomplishments

It is true that Aduda has been CEO for a brief period. But in that brief period, what new initiatives has he started. The primary job of a CEO should be to raise the financial profile of the club by starting initiatives that can generate money for the club. In this regard, if Gor Mahia is interested in hiring a new CEO, they should perform thorough interviews with people who have a financial background and hire them on performance contracts.

Dialogue

The one area where Mr. Aduda is right is that Gor Mahia should not take an antagonistic stance against FKF. The FKF chairman Sam Nyamweya has now called for dialogue

“All football stakeholders will engage in dialogue and further discussion until next week as we seek an amicable and unifying solution ahead of the start of the new FKF premier league season. This is in a bid to avoid making rushed decisions so that the final outcome is a way acceptable and favorable to everyone” reads a statement from Nyamweya.

If the FKF is genuinely looking for a resolution that benefits all parties, then I would urge Ambrose Rachier as KPL Chairman to take the offer with both hands.